Facts, fun, drama of writing fiction by Cerise and her pals who also write fiction!
(copyright 2009-2017, Cerise DeLand)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

BAD LADY BARONTON~a nibble of Meta Mathews' newest Regency!

I am so tickled to bring you a nibble of Meta's newest Regency. She has such a talent for these. Remember her LADY CHAMBERLY's CHOICES? Loved it. Thanks so much, Cerise, for letting me visit your blog today and talk about my latest erotic Regency, Bad Lady Baronton. This was a fun book to write, partly because I grew so fond of my characters and partly because I enjoy writing about the Regency period.

Here’s a brief description of the storyline:

Thoughts of a marriage of convenience with the new Earl of Baronton horrify Lady Madelina, so she plans to discourage him by pretending to be a woman of ill repute. Her plan backfires when she discovers he’s not the monster she’d been led to believe, but instead a lover who can pleasure her in ways she’d never imagined.

Having inherited a title he didn’t want, along with the expectation he’ll marry a woman he’s never met, Garett decides to investigate her before he introduces himself. Then he meets a beautiful woman who blatantly offers herself, and their sexual compatibility astounds him. Too late, he discovers the woman he wants as his mistress was supposed to have been his bride. Getting himself out of this situation will take all the skills he learned during the Peninsula War, and more.

“I must discover some way to keep from marrying that monster,” Lady Madelina Anderson declared, staring at each of her four sisters, all of whom were grouped around her in the small parlor of Baron Place. “I simply must.”

Lady Nora, the next to oldest, patted her elder sister on the knee. “Never you fear, Maddy dear. We’ll think of something.”

“But what will we do if you don’t marry him?” Queenie cried. At fifteen, she was the youngest and the most emotional of the sisters. “He’ll toss us out of the house and we’ll perish. Or worse, we’ll be taken in by different families and be separated. I’d rather die.”

“Nonsense,” eighteen-year-old Ophelia declared. “You know Aunt Louisa would never allow that to happen. She’ll see to it that we have a home.”

Ever practical Parmelia looked up from her embroidery. “I agree that Aunt Louisa would see to it that we have a roof over our heads, but how? Her dower house is too small to accommodate all of us.”

“Yes, yes, Queenie,” Maddy muttered. “We know you’d rather die, but don’t do so just yet. I promise I’ll keep us together. Give me a few minutes to think.”

The sisters obediently fell silent, and Maddy turned her head to gaze out the window into the undulating green leaves of the large oak just outside. As eldest, she bore responsibility for the futures of her sisters. It was not their fault that Papa had frittered away his small inheritance on bad investments, and really, each girl was pretty enough not to require a huge dowry to attract a husband.

Nora, at nineteen and a half, was the true beauty of the family with golden blonde hair and regular features. Tall and slender, she carried herself well. In addition, she was quite accomplished at the pianoforte and with her watercolors.

Ophelia was certainly the most striking with her red hair and green eyes, while little Queenie with her silvery blonde hair held promise of growing into a diamond of the first water.

Even dear Parmelia, who was clearly the plainest with her brown hair and hazel eyes, was far from being homely.

Still, no matter how much beauty her sisters might possess, Maddy was aware that they needed much more. And they deserved more than marriage to a country squire. They were, after all, daughters of an earl, and each should have been assured of a Season in London where she would have been exposed to the most eligible men in the ton. Perhaps, if she agreed to marry that monster from the other branch of the family…

But no, she simply couldn’t sacrifice herself in that way. Her earliest recollections included tales of the debauchery and cruelty inherent in the descendents of her great-great grandfather’s brother. In addition to being cursed with physical abnormalities, that branch of the family was rumored to revel in the most unseemly behavior. In fact, she had it on good authority that the current earl, her fourth cousin, had sat out the war in a remote estate belonging to the Marquess of Chamberly. Several men, so the story went, belonged to a club that was devoted to nothing but pleasures of the flesh, and they’d thus whiled away the years of war while braver men fought and died.

No. She could not marry such a man.

But how could she in good conscience refuse him if the futures of her sisters were in peril?

What are others saying about Bad Lady Baronton?

Mandy, a reviewer for Night Owl Reviews, gave Bad Lady Baronton five stars and wrote:

This is my first Meta Mathews romance and I think it was written wonderfully, with just the right mix of detail and heartfelt sentiment. The emotion and tender feelings felt realistic and easy to relate to. It came to be about the love, not the sex, although Ms. Mathews did give us the explicit sex that I think you'll enjoy. You'll get warm-and-fuzzy feelings when you read Bad Lady Baronton and you'll surely hate to see it end, as I did. It was so good I wanted it to go on and on. I look forward to reading much more from Ms. Mathews!